Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich Team Q&A #2

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We continue our series with Irrational Games by asking about new super powers, locations and pleasant surprises.

By Richard Aihoshi - 'Jonric'

Stepping outside the more common realms of fantasy and science fiction, developer Irrational Games ventured into the intriguing but seldom attempted domain of superheroes to find the foundation for its 2002 release, Freedom Force. Specifically, the title derived its thematic and graphical inspiration from the 1960s and the so-called Silver Age comics. Effectively capturing the look and feel of these core influences, it melded elements of squad-based strategy and RPG-style character development together with a well-crafted, solidly written story that provided the opportunity to play a diverse selection of characters that ranged from the fiery El Diablo to the enigmatic Alche-Miss, the brusque Man O' War, the patriotic Minuteman, the diminutive Ant, the explosive ManBot and more. The game was very positively received, even garnering a number of year-end awards and nominations despite the disadvantage of having shipped in March.

Although Irrational had indicated the possibility of extending the property to at least two more titles, a sequel was only unveiled last October. Projected to ship next year, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich will take players on a trip back in time, charging them to confront and defeat the malevolent minions of a new master villain named Blitzkrieg in colorful action that will span locations from the battlefields of the second global conflict to unknown dimensions. Other cast members revealed include Tombstone, Sky King, Red Oktober and Fortissimo, while Dancing Dead, Aztec Mercy and Whirlwind Tour represent examples of the new powers that will be available. Being keen to know more than just these basics, we were fortunate to have the chance to pose some questions to the best possible sources of information, the members of the development team.

Jonric: What are a couple of the new super powers in Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich that you personally enjoy, and why is each one special for you?

Jonathan Chey Project Lead I think I know what the team favorites are going to be - Tombstone's Possession power, which let's you control enemy characters, and Green Genie's Object Lesson, which turns enemies into flowerpots. Nevertheless, I do think that Possession is my favorite new power because it's just so cool being able to control an enemy and make them fight for you.

Black Jack's Limey Lure is also a lot of fun - it's a grenade that turns into an inflatable Black Jack dummy. Enemies are irresistibly drawn to attack that rather than the real one...

Dorian Hart Lead Designer One of my favorite new powers is Black Jack's Limey Lure. He throws it, and it balloons into a life-size likeness of himself, which fools enemies into attacking it instead your heroes. Not only is it a great tactical tool, but its look and sound are fantastic. Its voice, which plays when it pops up, is a stuttering, processed variant of Black Jack's own voice; its look is that of a vaguely shiny, inflatable Black Jack, and it breaks into pieces when it's destroyed.

I'm also partial to Green Genie's Buoyancy power, which allows any hero to fly. Again, it's got the great combo of actual in-game utility with great visuals, the latter simply being the fun of watching some of our bigger and more ponderous heroes suddenly soaring through the skies.

Alexx Kay Designer Green Genie's Object Lesson is lots of fun. It temporarily turns enemies into inanimate flowerpots. These are indestructible, but there's nothing stopping you from picking them up and throwing them a long distance, which can be very useful tactically.

Tombstone's Possession is a great new tool in the power arsenal. When it's used, Tombstone himself becomes intangible for the duration, and is replaced on your roster by the possessed foe. This is cool, as it allows you to try out enemy powers yourself.

One of my favorite bits of unintended emergent gameplay came out of using both of these powers on a foe at the same time, in case he resisted one of them. In the event, both of them went off successfully - leaving Tombstone's mind in the body of... a flowerpot! Needless to say, flowerpots don't have any useful offensive powers, leaving Tomb-y quite annoyed. :-)

Robb Waters Concept Artist One of my favorite new powers is Tombstone's Dance of the Dead. This power makes me think of the graveyard scene from the movie Army of Darkness. Some poor sap ends up getting b#$*!-slapped silly by some ornery corpses.

My other favorite new power is Black Jack's Decoy. It's more or less just used as a diversion device, which is not so special, but the fact that it's a life-size Black Jack balloon makes it a favorite of mine.

Jonric: What are some new locations in Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich that stand out as memorable, noteworthy or personally interesting?

Jonathan Chey Project Lead Can I say Patriot City? I really like the way we've re-imagined the city as whole. For example, there's the jewelry store with the giant diamond on top that you can hurl around... I suppose that's not really a specific location, so apart from that, I guess I should say Blitzkrieg's underground lair. It's a classic German dungeon with crazy science experiments gone wrong, German guards and all kinds of diabolical traps. The new dynamic lighting in the game looks really great in these kinds of areas.

Dorian Hart Lead Designer I really like the chamber where you discover Time Master's body. You find out early on that his body in stasis has been stolen for nefarious purposes, but seeing his huge, recumbent form hooked up to a crazy machine to power the enemy's designs is a wonderful moment.

There's also a park in the 1940s Berlin that I like, both because the book-fueled bonfires burning nearby is a good reminder of what you're fighting for, and because that's the place where you have your first experience fighting a [spoiler redacted].